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Subject: Narcissus of Pompeii / Bacchus or Dionysus
Period: 19th Century
Origin: Italian / Neapolitan
Style: Grand Tour / Neoclassical
Medium: Gilt bronze
After: The Antique, excavated at Pompeii in 1862
Dimensions: 37 × 17 × 15 cm / 14.6 × 6.7 × 5.9 in
Base: Integral circular bronze plinth with foliate decoration
CONDITION
Good antique condition with a particularly attractive untouched aged surface.
The original gilt finish displays extensive natural rubbing and wear, revealing darker bronze and patination beneath. There are areas of oxidation, verdigris, surface marks, scratches and minor casting irregularities consistent with age.
The surface has deliberately been left uncleaned and unpolished, retaining its historic patina and character.
Please study all photographs carefully, which form part of the description.
DESCRIPTION
A particularly decorative 19th-century Italian Grand Tour gilt-bronze figure traditionally identified as Narcissus of Pompeii, after the celebrated ancient bronze excavated at Pompeii in 1862.
The youthful figure stands elegantly in contrapposto, his head inclined towards his outstretched hand. He wears elaborately modelled Classical sandals, a wreath of vine leaves and fruit in his curled hair, and an animal skin draped over one shoulder.
The quality of detail is particularly evident in the elaborate footwear, curled hair, facial modelling, drapery and ornamented circular base.
The bronze retains extensive traces of its original golden surface, now beautifully worn through generations of handling to reveal areas of darker bronze beneath. This naturally variegated surface gives the sculpture considerably more character than a recently polished or repatinated example.
NARCISSUS OF POMPEII
The ancient bronze upon which this figure is based was discovered at Pompeii in 1862 and is preserved in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.
Traditionally known as Narcissus, the sculpture became one of the most celebrated discoveries from Pompeii and was rapidly reproduced by the Neapolitan bronze foundries supplying Grand Tour travellers.
The traditional identification has subsequently been questioned. The vine and grape ornament in the hair and animal skin over the shoulder have led to interpretations of the figure as Dionysus or Bacchus, possibly originally gesturing towards or holding grapes. For this reason examples are variously catalogued today as Narcissus, Bacchus, or Dionysus.
THE GRAND TOUR
Following its discovery, the Pompeian bronze became an important subject for the Neapolitan foundries producing reductions of antiquities for international collectors.
These bronzes allowed Grand Tour travellers to acquire faithful reductions of newly excavated works from Pompeii and Herculaneum, linking the 19th-century collecting tradition directly with the archaeological discoveries taking place around Naples.
